Hoyer Discusses the American Jobs Act on MSNBC

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) discussed the need to quickly take action on the American Jobs Act today on MSNBC's Jansing & Co. See below for excerpts and a link to the video.

“What the President offered was a getting jobs now bill. He wants American jobs to be created as soon as possible and offered a comprehensive package, which is related to one another, putting money in the hands of businesses so they can hire and grow jobs, putting money in the hands of consumers so they will be able to purchase goods.”

“I think there's overwhelming support frankly in the country for getting a comprehensive jobs bill passed through Congress of the United States in short term. Stop the squabbling, stop the bickering. Are there differences? Yes. But this is a proposal the President believes and frankly economists believe – Mark Zandi, one of John McCain’s economic advisers, thinks this will grow gross domestic product and grow jobs as a comprehensive package. We hope it will be considered as a comprehensive package.”

“I think tax reform is very important. I hope the [Joint Select] Committee addresses that. But I disagree with my good friend, Paul Ryan, when he says the Recovery Act didn't work. It absolutely did work, and the same economists say it worked, and unemployment would have been much worse without the Recovery Act. In fact, we created two million jobs in twenty months while the Recovery Act money was being invested. So I think to say it didn't work is simply categorically, mathematically, demonstrably wrong.”

“The fact of the matter is most economists believe the President's package will create jobs and do exactly what the Recovery Act did at a time when the economy is struggling. The time for bickering and arguing should be past us and we ought to address jobs. We haven't done that the first eight months that Congress has been in session. The President said enough is enough. We have to get onto the work. Americans can't wait fourteen months for the next election to get this resolved. They need jobs and economic growth now.”